MKR villain claims producers ‘blackmailed’ him

AFTER being branded the biggest jerk on My Kitchen Rules, Josh Meeuwissen has hit back at the show with explosive claims about being "blackmailed" by producers.

The reality TV contestant appeared on Kyle and Jackie O this morning in a bid to clean up his truly terrible reputation, following weeks of on-screen behaviour which easily cemented his title of "villain".

Fans are already up in arms about a teaser for tonight's episode, during which Josh called a female contestant a "slut" after she served him dinner.

MKR insult promo:
Josh's passing insult to Amy is set to shake things up on My Kitchen Rules tonight.

"They [producers] were saying if I didn't do certain things, they were going to portray that differently ... and they were telling me how they were going to edit it unless I played ball," he claimed.

The Broome-based deckhand says after the scene was filmed, he was hounded by a particularly overzealous producer, who "badly" wanted him to discuss the controversial moment in their interview.

"She followed us [he and wife and teammate Amy] to the hotel, took the lift with us, followed us to our hotel room, the entire way hounding, pleading with us, blackmailing us, and then had the audacity to justify this behaviour as 'doing her job,'" Josh said.

Josh with Curtis Stone on My Kitchen Rules.Channel 7

Josh then blamed TV ratings for the fact that the infamous "sluts" comment was even being aired at all, ironically stressing how inappropriate it was for the 7.30pm time slot.

"The ratings are a big thing for them [My Kitchen Rules] - this year against Married At First Sight, they've pulled some low ratings and they're doing anything they can to get viewers in."

And according to Josh, he wasn't the only contestant who received questionable treatment by producers.

"Several teams were heavily pressured into answering questions by producers, who threatened teams that they wouldn't be allowed to leave the interview room until they said a particular thing," Josh said.

But after admitting his comment was off-colour, and that he hadn't used his "best judgment," Josh awkwardly shut down any further questions about it.

"Yeah, we'll go onto the next comment, thanks," he told Kyle and Jackie O abruptly, refusing to speak when they pressed him on the topic.

Later, Josh also claimed producers had purposely extended his time on the show.

"When we cooked against Kelsey and Amanda, Amy and I were pretty much ready to go home," he said.

"I can guarantee you they swung it in a way so we stayed in the competition."